Russian Envoy Sees End To Ukraine Crisis
In an interview with AP, Russia's UN ambassador said he expects this week's gathering of world leaders to be difficult, but asserted that the crisis over Ukraine -- which he blamed on the United States --- was moving toward a solution.
Vitaly Churkin, the Russian United Nations envoy, did not discuss Western and Ukrainian claims that the Kremlin had deployed its troops and heavy weapons to eastern Ukraine.
As the fighting has dragged on, despite a cease-fire agreement, Churkin said: "Maybe we are moving toward the end of it, but it's going to be a rough stretch."
The Russian envoy said the key to his optimism was Ukraine's recent signing of an Association Agreement with the European Union, while putting off making it effective until the beginning of 2016 after "tripartite consultations -- Russia, Ukraine, and the EU -- on the economic consequences of the Ukraine Association Agreement."
"This is all Russia wanted, and we were telling the EU, the Americans and the Ukrainians this was the only reasonable thing to do because otherwise the Ukrainian economy will collapse," Churkin said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin had a different view, telling reporters in New York on Monday: "That the UN must do more to protect Ukraine's independence. Our key concern is the inability of the UN to ensure independent sovereignty and the inviolability of borders," he said, calling for Ukraine to remain high on the international agenda until all Russian troops and heavy weaponry have been removed from Ukrainian territory.
Klimkin said there is no "sustainable bilateral cease-fire" in place, saying that in recent days there have been 50 violations of the latest truce.
More from Interfax, via AFP:
The prime minister of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk said Tuesday that rebels have removed artillery from front-line areas where Ukraine had also withdrawn, in line with a peace plan signed Saturday.
"We have withdrawn artillery but only in those areas where the Ukrainian regular units have done the same. Where Ukraine hasn't withdrawn artillery, we also haven't done so. This all only concerns artillery with caliber greater than 100 mm," the rebel leader, Alexander Zakharchenko, told Interfax news agency.
From Interfax:
The prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, believes that the next meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine may be held in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in a month.
"I think that it will happen in a month. We need at least one month
to basically implement the decisions that were adopted at the last
session of the Contact Group," he told Interfax.
Zakharchenko also said he was concerned by the Ukrainian side's
failure to observe the cease-fire terms.
"There is no total clarity as far as the cease-fire is concerned.
Shelling by the Ukrainian side continues. I would call it a sluggish
combat operation," he said.
Just in from Interfax:
Pro-Russia rebels say withdrawing artillery in east Ukraine
This just in from the French news agency AFP:
Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels were battling around the airport near the insurgent stronghold of Donetsk on Tuesday, sending flames and clouds of black smoke into the sky.
The fighting erupted despite a new truce agreement reached Saturday which calls for forces on both sides to cease-fire and pull back from the front line to create a buffer zone.
The airport, which was severely damaged in a fierce battle in May, was hit by heavy artillery and the rattle of automatic weapons fire could also be heard, the journalists said.
Donetsk is the largest insurgent-held city in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine but the airport remains under the control of government forces despite numerous rebel assaults.